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Storm survivors
Offshore financial centres have taken a battering recently, but they have shown remarkable resilience, says Matthew ValenciaFeb 16th 2013 |From the print edition
WHEN THE ECONOMIST INTELLIGENCE UNIT, a sister organisation of this newspaper, published the first bound edition of “Tax Havens and Their Uses” in 1975, a queue several blocks long formed outside The Economist’s bookshop in London. Interest in offshore financial centres (OFCs) kept growing over the following 20 years as dozens of new havens popped up, often with help from lawyers based in Wall Street or the City of London. Tax authorities did little to intervene. Beginning in the mid-1970s, Jerome Schneider, a well-known “tax planner”, hawked various tax-evasion schemes with impunity for more than 20 years, even advertising in airline magazines.
This tolerance ended in the late 1990s, when prosecutors began to catch up with Mr Schneider and his kind and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Developme…

These companies and more have announced that they will take an earnings hit in the wake of Venezuela's latest devaluation of its currency, the bolivar fuerte, last Friday. And there is talk that more companies could join the crowd: just for starters, among U.S. multinationals, Goodyear is evaluating the impact of Venezuela's move, but has lowered its operating income guidance. Among consumer consumer-oriented companies, Heinz,Clorox, Procter & Gamble, and Arcos Dorados Holding, the world's largest McDonald's franchisee, are quite active in Venezuela, and in the energy sector, Chevron participates in six energy-related projects in the country.

At least in some quarters, the devaluation appears to have been expected – which raises the question of why these companies weren't better prepared. Shouldn'…

AHMEDABAD: Farmers and traders from Junagadh and around were a happy lot as the weather for the last few days was optimum for the Mango. However, the sudden change in the weather and scattered rains has nursed fears of an outbreak of powdery mildew disease.

This is likely to affect crop production. Officials in the horticulture department said flowering was good initially and the cold weather, which had set in lately, was also conducive for a good mangocrop.

However, the sudden change, with clouds and wind has led to fears of a bad crop this year.

The mango hopper worm and powdery mildew are likely to affect the crop. Officials said the early, small crops of mango had started coming to the market, and this was because these fruit fall from the trees because of the strong winds.

Frontline has made a major investment in its eco-ship fleet. And in future the fleet may include container ships operated more environmentally friendly.

“With Frontline aiming to focus on high quality, modern, fuel efficient tonnage the next step could be container vessels where the fuel-savings are by far highest”, Arctic securities Analyst Erik Nikolai Stavseth tells Asiasis.

The analyst predicts that the yearly turnover of Frontline 2012 will show a steady growth from USD 10 million in 2012 to USD 13 million in 2013 and an even larger growth to USD 34 million in 2014 and USD 167 million in 2015 based on the series of newbuildings ordered by Frontline 2012.

Time-series (1996 to 2012) of total polar ozone mean values over the months of September, October and November as measured by GOME, SCIAMACHY and GOME-2 flown on ERS-2, Envisat and MetOp-A, respectively. Smaller ozone holes are evident during 2002 and 2012. The maps were generated using total ozone columns derived with the GODFIT algorithm (BIRA/IASB, RT Solutions Inc.), which has been consistently applied to the three different satellite instruments. Copyright BIRA/IASB.

Satellites show that the recent ozone hole over Antarctica was the smallest seen in the past decade. Long-term observations also reveal that Earth's ozone has been strengthening following international agreements to protect this vital layer of the atmosphere.

According to the ozone sensor on Europe's MetOp weather satellite, the hole over Antarctica in 2012 was the smallest in the last 10 years.

The instrument continues the long-term monitoring of atmospheric ozone started…

In February 2012, Mexican police announced they had close to capturing the world's most elusive kingpin, Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman. However, a newspaper investigation found that there is no record that the supposed operation to snag the Sinaloa Cartel boss ever took place.

El Chapo's apparent close call made headlines around the world, especially after the Mexican authorities released lurid details of how the capo only escaped thanks to canceling a planned tryst with a prostitute because she was menstruating.

Then-Deputy Attorney General Jose Cuitlahuac Salinas Martinez revealed details of the operation, telling the media how police had raided a mansion in Punta Ballena at the beach resort of Los Cabos in Baja California. According to Salinas, they discovered firearms on the premises and arrested a gardener, cook, pilot and the sex worker, who…